The High Court has struck out James Osborne’s proceedings against Gorey Business Park (Ramstown) Limited over land at Gorey Business Park, finding the claim disclosed no reasonable cause of action and was frivolous, vexatious and bound to fail. It also ordered that a lis pendens registered by Osborne over the land be vacated.
In an ex tempore judgment delivered on 14 May 2024, Mr Justice Nolan said the dispute concerned whether an unregistered part of the land, now included in Folio 62501 F, had been covered by a 2003 mortgage. Osborne alleged that the receiver’s 2018 sale included land outside the mortgage and that Sean Doyle, whose company bought the property, knew of alleged deficiencies in the mortgage map. The defendant said the conveyance and registration were proper.
The judge rejected the argument that the map was deficient. He found that a map relied on by Osborne had no evidential value, noting that its origin was unclear and that there was no affidavit from the person whose handwritten note appeared on it. He also found that the mortgage covered the entirety of the lands shown on the map registered in the Land Registry.
The judgment said the register was conclusive evidence of title unless actual fraud or mistake was proved. Nolan J found neither, and noted that these proceedings were not an application to rectify the register. He concluded that the claim about Doyle’s alleged prior knowledge fell away once he found the map was not defective.
The court also held that Osborne had issued the proceedings without the High Court’s permission, contrary to an existing undertaking. The judgment referred to a 2023 decision by Mr Justice O’Moore, which had prohibited proceedings raising the same map issue. Nolan J found the current claim could not be saved by amendment and said it attempted to circumvent the undertaking.
The order struck out the proceedings and directed that the lis pendens be vacated. On a further Isaac Wunder order, Nolan J did not make a final order: because an undertaking was already in place, he invited Osborne to give an undertaking in the same terms concerning Doyle, his companies and the lands, and adjourned the matter to allow him to consider his position.